Wells, Lucas capture pro races at San Rafael Criterium

With three laps remaining in the women's pro division race Saturday night, Mill Valley cyclist Alison Tetrick was positioned to defend her championship in the San Rafael Twilight Criterium. In the end, Tetrick couldn't hold onto her position. But her team — Exergy Twenty16 — did produce a winner in Kim Wells, leaving Tetrick with a smile on her face.

"Cycling is a team sport, and my teammate Kimberly took the win, and it means just as much as if I took the win," Tetrick said. "This season isn't really different from last year — it just comes down to the dynamic of the race and what teams are present. We definitely had the numbers against us. So this was good."

Tetrick and Wells were essentially a two-person team in the race, with Exergy outnumbered by the Vanderkitten team among others. But even though Vanderkitten had three riders near the front as the cyclists geared up for the final lap of the 70-minute race over the 1-kilometer course in downtown San Rafael, Wells had enough left to come into the final straightaway with a lead that she would not relinquish.

"Alison won last year with a breakaway," Wells, who is from Australia, said. "But with this course, you really had to be careful with what was going up the road. I came into Exergy Twenty16 as a guest rider and I know the team has been winning here, which is really exciting. Alison won here last year, so she was the defending champion. And with that comes the knowledge of how to ride the course.

"Basiscally, we wanted either one of us to win. You never really know what will happen at the end. Ally is a very strong time-trial rider and I'm a strong sprinting rider and that combination has to help in a criterium race. ... It came down to a sprinting race, and I knew I had to be in position coming into that bottom corner."

Wells' late move allowed her to move past Vanderkitten team rider Ruth Winder of Lafayette, who had to settle for second place. Wells finished in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 4.7 seconds with Winder second by 4.8 seconds. Tetrick finished in 25th place.

"I think it's always disappointing to get close like that," Winder said. "But you always have to remember to smile and look forward to the next race. Because in bike racing there is always, always another bike race. You just always work to be better and better."

The men's pro race has a similar finish, as each and every attempt at a breakout by riders was eventually reeled in. That resulted in a sprint to the finish, which was won by Cal Giants rider Eamon Lucas. The Pacific Grove native, who now lives in Belgium, didn't take the lead for good until the final lap, then held off Justin Williams and Dana Williams for the victory.

"I just tried to keep my cool, follow wheels and get the job done," Lucas said. "I tried to be as smart as I could be. There were a lot of miles, a lot of suffering, a lot of dedication and to be able to throw my arms up at the end and scream ... Oh man, I almost lost it on the backstretch there. I'm so happy.

"Everything has to go 100 percent right to win a bike race. There were a lot of good people in this bike race, but everything went right. I did what I could and it came out to be wonderful."

The top amateur race of the day was won by PrimeTime Cycling's Patrick Briggs. The Oakland resident, 47, bested the field in the men's Category 1/2/3 with a time of 50:33. Teammate Chris Wire was second in the 45+ group while Specialized team rider Michael Sayers of Sacramento was first in the 35+ group.

Briggs said teamwork was the key to his victory.

"We've got a pretty good sprinting team and everything worked out the way we laid out our plans," Briggs said. "So that was a real team achievement. Of course, you can make as many plans as you want, but whether they pan out or not is a different story. You've got to have a Plan B and a Plan C and sometimes even those don't work.

"San Rafael is always a good race. And this was one of the better ones where I felt good. We went up to Oregon last week and had a pretty good stage race, so I was hoping that would help and it did."

In the first race of the day, San Francisco's Chris Esparza, riding for Audi/Kryki Sports, took first place in the Category 4 men's race with a time of 35:47. Red Peleton rider Gavin Murray of Sebastopol was second. In the Category 3/4 men's masters race that followed, Dolce Vita Cycling's Sean Brandt (Alameda) was first in the 35+ division in 40:56 while Fairfield's Karl Wurzbach won the 45+ division in 40:56